This generation's Star Wars

[Fanticon]

i don't know how any of the examples in the poll come remotely close to being "this generation's" star wars other than the simple fact that some are successful franchises' but cover all kinds of genre's. The Prequel Trilogy is this new generation's star wars. It introduced the story to younger audiences who didn't grow up with the originals and now they can carry it on for another 30 years.

But for something to be truly compared to star wars, i'd have to say its gotta be rooted in sci-fi-fantasy, its gotta be wildly successful, and its gotta appeal to all kinds of audiences world wide. And an original work. So i don't see anything listed having all those bases covered.

 

[enterthemadness]

Nothing comes close to Star Wars from the 70's/80's era. Nothing. Pirates 1 is great....but the two sequels ruined it's legacy. Thanks, Disney. Thanks...for nothing.

 

[Iron_Stark]

In terms of financial and critical success as well as impact, Lord of the Rings.

Nolan's Batman would be close, but it's not finished yet.

Not even, Batmania was bigger in the summer of '89 than it was now.

Potter and Lord of the Rings don't come close to capturing EVERYONE'S imagination like A New Hope did.

Nothing is close to the phenomena that was Star Wars in the summer of '77.

To sci-fi and fantasy fans, Potter and LoTR is their Star Wars, to tween girls and women a lot of women in general, Twilight is their Star Wars, to comic fans, Batman/Spider-Man is their Star Wars.

 

[Doomed_hero]

its hard to really call anything this generations star wars cause Star Wars was I belive a once in a lifetime event. If anything has come close to it I would say its between the superhero craze, harry potter and Lord Of the rings But even that is different. Those movies are all based on something that came before and people where waitng for them to come out long before the movie was ever relased. Superheroes where already apart of pop culture far before the new Batman/ Spider-man? etc/ movies came out, there releases only added to there legacy. However Star Wars came out of nowhere. No one, inculding those working on it thought it was going to do anything and it became a pop culture succes like nothing seen before or since. Its like asking who is this generations Beatles, the Beatles are something that wont ever happen again, neither is Star Wars

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

Star Wars is every generations' Star Wars. The original trilogy will stand the tests of time as everything else, especially the new Star Wars stuff, will not.

 

[Infinity9999x]

I find it odd that LOTR is an option in here, considering LOTR was one of Star Wars influences.

I don't really count LOTR, because while they were obviously groundbreaking films, they already had 50 plus years of history and were already strongly ingrained into pop culture when the films were released.

Harry Potter is probably the closest in terms of being a cultural phenomenon. With the books and films, there is an entire generation that has been influenced by Harry Potter. I don't think the films influenced filmmaking and the film industry like the SW movies did, but HP is most definitely the closest in terms of being the huge pop culture event like Star Wars.

 

[redhawk23]

Maybe not if just taken for the films, but as a total franchise, I would most definitely say Harry Potter. I mean not accounting for inflation it is the highest grossing franchies moviewise and the books have sold over 400 MILLION COPIES. Figure in all the merchandise and videogames, I'd say it is just about the only thing that can currently compare to star wars' success.

 

[Drizzle]

Why is "Green Lantern" on the list? It isn't even out yet.

 

[Thundarr]

I voted for Lord Of The Rings, but I rank Harry Potter a very close second.

I looked at this question from two points of view. One: The movie's effect on pop culture. Two: The movie's longevity.

The original Star Wars Trilogy has tremendous longevity, as even the pre-special edition version on VHS still holds up to this day. And there is no denying its impact on pop culture.

Harry Potter has had an enormous impact on pop culture, and is enjoyable by children and adults alike. Unfortunately, I've just recently rewatched the entire Harry Potter series and I'm sad to say that (especially in the earlier films) the visual effects just don't hold up. Unlike Star Wars with its practical effects, Harry Potter's effects were mostly CGI. And if you go back and rewatch the movies, they LOOK like they're CGI. So I'm afraid they lack the longevity of the original SWT.

The Lord Of The Rings hasn't has as big of a cultural impact as Harry Potter, but that doesn't mean it hasn't has one. There are LOTR action figures, toy sword replicas, computer games, board games, strategy games, etc, many of which are still available in stores today. And people are always quoting the movie, doing Gollum impressions, etc. So it has had an impact on popular culture. Likely what has limited its impact on pop culture was the fact that the story was 50+ years old when the first movie came out, and that the films were geared towards a slightly older audience than the Star Wars or Harry Potter movies. However, thanks to Peter Jackson's reserved use of CGI in thess movies, they have a longevity far more along the lines of the original Star Wars Trilogy. Even ten years after the fact, the LOTR Trilogy looks as awesome today as it did back then. And odds are, it will continue to do so for the next ten or twenty years.

 

[Doc Ock]

Star Wars is every generations' Star Wars. The original trilogy will stand the tests of time as everything else, especially the new Star Wars stuff, will not.

Yeah, thats kinda how I see it.

 

[Lantern Venom]

I can't think of anything in this generation with the cultural impact of Star Wars. Perhaps Toy Story? I don't think even that quite makes the mark.

I feel the same way. SW impacted every form of media as well as the way pop culture was marketed. The phenomenon goes far beyond the movies, which is why I don't see any true equals to it on that level.

 

[Mace Dolex]

Star Wars huge phenomenon was a once in a lifetime event that captured the imaginations of people of all ages from the merchandising back in the 80's you couldn't walk anywhere and not see some sort of SW paraphernalia. But really it was the breakthrough in SFX that changed the way movies were now made that many tried to imitate.

Even my folks knew of Star Wars even if by a passing mention they knew most of the characters names.

LOTR, Harry Potter and POTC were just short fads and don't really fall into this categrory, the Matrix movies were done in by the two lackluster sequels.

 

[danoyse]

It wouldn't be as big without the movies. The movies tapped into a whole new group of people plus lets face it...books are on their way out sadly.

Someone should explain that to my friends' kids who are just starting to read the Harry Potter books now. And they love them. One of my friends won't even let her son see any of the Harry Potter movies until he finishes each book. Those books aren't going anywhere.

The movies helped, but those books were huge before they were movies. More than half of the series was out before we saw the release of the first film. By then the NY Time had already created new bestseller lists for children's books because the Potter books were taking up too many spaces on the adult best seller lists.

 

[8wid]

Harry Potter has the strongest virtues, and Avatar the technology, but Titanic had the best meaning.

 

[Infinity9999x]

LOTR, Harry Potter and POTC were just short fads and don't really fall into this categrory, the Matrix movies were done in by the two lackluster sequels.

I'm sorry, but Harry Potter has been consistently popular for over ten years. It's the highest grossing movie series in history, and the only book that outsells it is the friggin bible.

Oh yeah, and it y'know, has it's own THEME PARK.

If that's a "short fad" then I'm pretty curious to know when something graduates from fad to cultural event.


And LOTR was a wildly influential book series, something that completely revolutionized fantasy. Now, yes, the movies did not have anything close to the cultural impact of Star Wars, but let's not forget that if we didn't have LOTR, we wouldn't have Star Wars. One reason why I find it odd that we're comparing the two.

 

[Mace Dolex]

I'm sorry, but Harry Potter has been consistently popular for over ten years. It's the highest grossing movie series in history, and the only book that outsells it is the friggin bible.

Oh yeah, and it y'know, has it's own THEME PARK.

If that's a "short fad" then I'm pretty curious to know when something graduates from fad to cultural event.

I guess I should point out that I'm in my 30's and since I have no kids I have no idea what their into these days, it's not like I talk about the Harry Potter books with my co-workers and getting funny looks.

 

[Infinity9999x]

I guess I should point out that I'm in my 30's and since I have no kids I have no idea what their into these days, it's not like I talk about the Harry Potter books with my co-workers and getting funny looks.

That's understandable. Harry Potter is still a different kind of beast then Star Wars. Especially since the books started out as children's books and slowly grew into young adult/adult fantasy novels. But it's impacted this generation in a huge way. Especially since the Harry Potter generation has grown up, so HP is moving into the adult aspect. I'm 21, and I grew up with Harry Potter, and there are millions of people who grew up with it just like me, in addition to all the younger kids who have been turned on to it by the movies.

Now, with Star Wars, you had films that not only impacted a generation, but also revolutionized the film industry. Harry Potter hasn't done that. The films have been solid, but nothing revolutionary like Star Wars was. But there's no denying that Harry Potter has been, and still is, a huge pop culture event.

 

[Erzengel]

Harry Potter has the strongest virtues, and Avatar the technology, but Titanic had the best meaning.

Ah yes. Crazy old widow disregards lifelong memories of husband, children, and grandchildren in favor of that one time she effed a bum

 

[Secret Fawful]

Ah yes. Crazy old widow disregards lifelong memories of husband, children, and grandchildren in favor of that one time she effed a bum

Best synopsis I have ever read for Titanic.

 

[Lord]

Star Wars came out of nowhere and nobody expected it to be such a success, the same happened with harry potter, ovelarly harry potter became iconic because like star wars it had what was needed to be successful: Critivity from a simple idea, a good story, interesting characters, a hero we can relate to and a good villain that also became iconic.
The Matrix could have been that, Neo, Trinity, Morpheus and Mr. Smith became icons, but after 2 sequels it was completelly forgoten, there was Matrix Online however it was cancelled and unlike star wars nobody tells more stories within the matrix universe, wich is a shame, considering that there could be told some very interesting stories.

 

[Erzengel]

They had an inkling that HP would be a success. Rowling's books did sell hundreds of millions of copies. It didn't necessarily come out of nowhere.

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

^^ Yes, but Star Wars has entire conventions devoted to it.

 

[chaseter]

Someone should explain that to my friends' kids who are just starting to read the Harry Potter books now. And they love them. One of my friends won't even let her son see any of the Harry Potter movies until he finishes each book. Those books aren't going anywhere.

The movies helped, but those books were huge before they were movies. More than half of the series was out before we saw the release of the first film. By then the NY Time had already created new bestseller lists for children's books because the Potter books were taking up too many spaces on the adult best seller lists.

That's one example. My brother stopped reading books after middle school. He didn't even finish the last 4 Potters because he would rather play video games or get on facebook. That example doesn't make my argument fact. Look at sales. Less and less people are reading books whether that be digital or physical. It's just a sad fact. Books are slowly disappearing. That makes my argument fact.

Those books were huge before the movies. Nobody said otherwise. I said the movies helped...which they did. Did you even read my post or just react

 

[chaseter]

^^ Yes, but Star Wars has entire conventions devoted to it.

If Rowling keeps expanding the universe, we will start seeing conventions. When she founds her own movie production company...then we are all in trouble

 

[Erzengel]

HP box offices seem to do better overseas than in the States, so I wouldn't be surprised if they do have conventions albeit smaller ones, in England or somewhere else in Europe.

But the time that Star Wars were doing their own Conventions, Star Wars has already spread in terms of merchandising, books, video games, TV, etc.

The thing that separates Star Wars from HP is the expanded universe.

Also, I don't frequent toy stores/comic book stores as much as I use to but I never saw a lot of Harry Potter stuff. And I know, they have books, replicas but there doesn't seem to be as much out there. That could change but right now...it's only Harry and his small circle.